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Firefighters throughout the state still have their hands full tonight. There are currently six wildfires burning in the northern part of the state. Some were sparked by lightning, while others are believed to be human-caused. These fires are just a few of the more than 300 wildfires this year in the state of Utah, which have so far consumed more than 10,000 acres of land.
Fire crews are focusing most of their efforts on the largest wildfire, which is burning just south of Payson. So far it's burned about 175 acres. The Spring Lake fire started yesterday, but after around the clock efforts, crews have stopped the flames from reaching nearby homes.
Crews have shifted directions today because the flames that inched so close to homes at the base of the mountainside are out. The crews are now fighting the flames on the other side of the mountain.
Kevin Cortez, the Utah County assistant fire warden, said, "It's steep, it's sandy. For every two steps, you take two steps back. It's very physically draining."
Their hard work and long hours have paid off, though, for the dozens of residents who rushed to evacuate last night as flames inched closer and closer to their homes.
Joanne Kunzler was among those evacuated. She said, "It's kind of scary. What do you grab? I grabbed all my kids and photos."
Nicole White, who also had to evacuate, said, "It's hard to breathe. My lungs hurt. It's pretty scary, done it once before in the Santaquin fire."
Everyone that was evacuated is back home tonight, but that doesn't mean they're entirely out of harm's way. Firefighters are watching out for hot spots. "They could pop up. Just seeing the spot fires and how this one carried over to begin with. You can see we have the wind now, we didn't have that this morning. A tiny spot carried over into the additional threat we have now," Cortez said.
Nearly 1,000 acres have already burned. Crews have stayed busy building a fire line, and helicopters have been dumping both water and fire retardant today.
Loyal Clark, with the U.S. Forest Service, said, "That's suppressing the fire enough that we can start building a fire line. We've been very effective in extinguishing a lot of the hot spots using the helicopter with the water drops."
No matter how you look at it, it's a lot of hard work, especially with limited resources. "We have our hands full, and because our resources are so short, the personnel that have been assigned to the fire have been here since it started," Clark said.
Another fire crew from Nevada will relieve local crews fighting this fire tomorrow morning. Offcials say they'll likely be fighting this fire for several days.
Payson Canyon is still closed. That's where Boy Scouts were evacuated from yesterday evening. Scout leaders have been able to go up with an escort and retrieve their belongings.
In the Stansbury Mountains near Grantsville, fire crews are working on the Little Bald Mountain Fire. Lightning ignited the blaze two days ago and it's burned about 600 acres.
Forest managers have closed South Willow Canyon, Box Elder Canyon and North Willow Canyon to keep the public safe and to give firefighters access to the area.
In Duchesne County, about 100 firefighters and two helicopters are trying to get the Wagstaff Fire under control. It started yesterday afternoon and has scorched 400 acres of land eight miles east of Tabiona.
Fire officials say they've contained about 20 percent of the blaze, and if the weather complies, they think it will be completely out by tomorrow evening. There's no word yet on how that fire started.
And although a wildfire in Provo Canyon is fully contained, there are still some hot spots. Several patches of the Bridal Veil Fire are still burning.
Fire officials say it will be several days before the fire burns itself out. It has burned more than 240 acres and destroyed an old restaurant.
E-mail: corton@ksl.com
